Golden State Warriors: Is Steve Kerr capable of adapting?

Aside from injuries and growing pains — something else was troubling the Golden State Warriors last season. A question that has yet to be answered but could be vital to their future. Is Steve Kerr capable of adapting to a new cast of players?

The Golden State Warriors will need to adapt in order to win another championship. Is Steve Kerr capable of leading the charge?

Kerr, for as great as he is, had a cakewalk to his first few championships as an NBA coach. I mean, it doesn’t get much easier than watching Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant reach historic heights.

It goes without saying that Kerr was an important contributor to these championship runs. After all, talent is only so valuable if they aren’t being guided in the right direction. For that, Kerr has earned his status as the third longest-tenured coach in the NBA today.

However, there has been a startling inability to adapt over the last two seasons. Sure, let’s give him a pass for all of the injuries during the 2019-29 NBA season. But, what about last year? Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer highlighted this in a recent podcast with The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson

"“Steve Kerr has taken some heat in recent years for not making some bigger changes. to fit the personnel..…Does the Warriors front office believe in Kerr’s ability to adapt?”Kevin O’Connor via The Ringer"

To this, Marcus Thompson had a funny, but blunt, answer. Essentially, we don’t know — because Kerr had good reason not to adapt. Thompson says we should trust his judgement in sticking to his guns last season and avoiding pick-and-rolls with James Wiseman (for example) as truthfully, that play just wasn’t going to work.

Citing Kerr’s championship pedigree, Thompson suggests we need to step back and acknowledge the harsh reality that the Warriors just weren’t very talented over the last two seasons. His argument: There weren’t really any meaningful adjustments to be made. Therefore, an emphasis was placed on a development to learning the system that has won them three championships.

This seems like a fair response. With all of the new players who have come and gone during the last two seasons — Kerr could only do so much. The same can not be said for this upcoming season, however. If the team avoids any major injuries, Kerr will have to prove himself.

Let’s once again be fair in stating Kerr does not have an easy job ahead of him. The Warriors have an all-time unusual collection of talent. Superstars, veterans and recent lottery picks typically don’t play on the same roster at the same time. Kerr will have to be brilliant in order to pull off this mad scientist experiment to a degree that satisfies everybody.